Reworking a Painting

29 Oct

Early last year I completed this painting, Great Love (watch the mini-vid of this painting unfolding here).

I was really happy with this Artwork at the time, but in recent months, I have felt the urge to rework it. I loved the part in the centre but the rest of the painting no longer resonated with me ... So, it was time to let go.

I began by painting over all the parts I no longer fancied and kept the parts I liked. This effectively gave me lots of blank canvas to work with.

Then when I went to a friend's house for a paint sesh last week, I added lots of bright colours ... And later on I toned it down with some softer tones I felt more happy with.

Intuitive painting is often a meandering journey of trial and error, so a painting can take on many incarnations before something truly emerges as a clear direction. In these times, patience and trust and present moment awareness become great allies.

This afternoon I sat down and finally a loose theme started to emerge. I looked into the painting and found some repetitive shapes that reminded me of mountains, so I began to bring the features out.

Mountains, birds, growth and seeds all started to take shape as I expressed my feelings intuitively with Colour and line.

With all the blues and purples I added, my water bucket took on the most beautiful colour between brush rinses.

So here is where I got to by the end of today's session. My favourite part was working vigorously with my new Neo Colour crayons ... Perfect for adding some interesting detail and textures.